Maddi, eat with your fingers, please.

Words I never thought would come out of my mouth.

See, my one-and-a-half year old loves spoons. The very first time I put one in her hand, she knew just what to do with it. These days, she will attempt to eat an entire meal with a spoon-- and do a pretty good job of it, too. If I give her a plate of finger food, she will beg for a spoon. In fact, she often won't touch her food until she has a spoon in her hand.

Last night we went out to dinner.

Guess who forgot to bring a spoon?

Maddi sat staring at her plate of chicken and mashed potatoes (her favorite) saying, "poom," "poom," "poom," while we scrambled around trying to find a utensil she wouldn't poke herself with. We finally ended up with a wide soup spoon, which she diligently tried to fit in her little mouth. And dumped all her food down her front in the process. Which was a big mess, because we also forgot to bring a bib (figures). A whole lot of clean up, but definitely entertaining!

missing:

one measuring tape.

one level (heaven forbid we hang our pictures straight).

one entire box of food. non perishable (thank goodness).

ah, the joys of moving.

A Texas Birthday

We arrived in San Antonio the day before my 24th birthday. New apartment, new city, new things to see, new restaurants to try... quite the birthday present! To celebrate, Micah took Madison and I out for a night on the town. First, we stopped by the Alamo. This is just about as Texas as Texas gets. Good thing we brushed up on our history before the move, although it was hard to picture John Wayne in a beaver hat here in the middle of this huge city.

 (thanks for the birthday dress, mom and dad!)

There were three different snow cone vendors on the patio of the Alamo (I guess there's a high demand for snow cones there?) and even though we were headed to dinner, I asked Micah to get me one. And he did. It was my birthday, after all. (Micah is not usually an advocate of dessert before dinner. But I most certainly am!)

Next we went to the Riverwalk. I'd heard so much about this place, but had no idea what to expect. I think I was picturing any other old downtown plaza with shops and restaurants, etc. I was surprised to find we had to walk down a long twisty set of stairs to get to this beautiful stretch of the San Antonio river far below the level of the streets. Outdoor cafes, stores and hotels with beautiful old facades line both sides of the walkways, and little tour boats run up and down the river. There's live music, a million different delicious smells, and enormous trees shading the whole area.

We stopped for dinner at the County Line BBQ, recommended to us as some of San Antonio's best. We got to sit outside overlooking the river as we ate. And boy, was it delicious!

I think Maddi approved of our first Texas barbecue.

(Reaching for Dad's plate after finishing her own)

The napkin kept her (and us) most entertained of all. Love this kid!

Thanks for the fun birthday!

We've arrived.

(Yes, that is the Alamo.)

Well folks, after a whole lot of this:

Some of this:

Some more of this:

A little of this:

And then one big long drive and a plane ride or two,
we're finally here.

We've only been in Texas a week, but we love it. Especially the local barbecue. And the Riverwalk. And the Alamo. Oh yeah, and the fact that this is the coolest (and when I say "cool," I mean relatively) Spring weather San Antonio has had in a long time. Lucky us.

Stay tuned for updates on our last few months (oops!).

The Living Planet Aquarium

During our last few weeks in Provo, we tried to see as many people and do as many things as we could before moving to Texas.  The week after graduation, our good friends Mark and Sara met us at the local aquarium.  We claimed we were going for the kids, but I think we adults had just as much fun.

(Mark and Sara and their two daughters, who are seriously some of the most beautiful little girls I've ever seen.)

This picture makes me laugh.  Maddi was completely oblivious to the sharks swimming just inches in front of her face.

Loved the penguins!

Trying to manage touching the stingrays without dumping my kid in the water...

The fish were spectacular, but the best part was seeing the crowds gather to watch an aquarium employee clean the tanks.  You'd think people had never seen a human arm before.  Quite amusing actually!